


quiet lives don't exist

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-13
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-15 12:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1305376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was supposed to be a vacation. But it seems that even with the Prophecy of Seven out of the way, maybe everyone was right. Maybe quiet lives for demigods is a fiction only heard of in books.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Exchange Students

**Author's Note:**

> hey, so first story (on here. i have experience with other sites). long chapters aren't really my forte, so just bear with me here.  
> enjoy :)

* * *

"Good job, 'Mione!" exclaimed Harry. Hermione had just told him, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna that she had become Head Girl. Unsurprising, really, considering the fact that she was the smartest witch around, and the minor detail that was her extreme aid in the defeat of Voldemort the year before. The wizarding world was on its way to recovery, and the Department of Mysteries group was back for its seventh and last year at Hogwarts.

Ron grabbed Hermione around the waist and started kissing her.

"Really?" groaned Ginny. "Well then..." She looked at Harry with a little glint in her eye. He grinned and shook his head. _Later_. His girlfriend laughed and nodded. Meanwhile, Neville and Luna had started chatting about some kind of plant. The din in their compartment died down a little, and soon they all lapsed into a comfortable silence. Which, needless to say, didn't last long.

A burst of loud laughter came from next door, scaring everyone out of their thoughts. The six looked at each other in surprise, and Harry stood up.

"I'll go, uh, see what's going on," he said. Ron and Hermione automatically joined him at the door.

"I'll stay here," said Ginny, and Luna and Neville nodded in assent. The trio walked to the door of the next compartment and opened it.

Inside, they found the oddest assortment of people. Spread across one bench was a black-haired, green-eyed boy (who looked strangely similar to Harry) with his head in a blond girl's lap. On the other bench sat a tall blond boy, a girl with brown hair and strange eyes, and another boy way in the corner with black hair and brown eyes. Sitting on the floor under the window was a small girl with dark skin leaning against a significantly larger Asian boy with black hair. Across from them was a boy with pointy, elfin features and a curly mess of brown hair.

"Hello," said Hermione. "We were just, uh, checking if everything is alright. Making rounds," she lied. "I'm Hermione Granger. This is Ron Weasley and Harry Potter." She paused, waiting for the usual reaction, but nothing came. The eight just smiled, nodded, and said hi. Strange. "I've never seen you around before," the witch tried again. The blond-haired girl shoved the boy's head off her lap and stood up (earning a groan from the boy and a not-very-well-hidden giggle from the girl on the floor). She smiled and stuck out her hand, and Hermione took it.

"I'm Annabeth Chase. This is Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Nico di Angelo, Piper Mclean, Jason Grace, Leo Valdez and Percy Jackson." She pointed at each person while saying their name. "We're, uh, exchange students. From the States."

"Yeah, that's obvious," snorted Ron. Hermione elbowed him in the stomach.

"Shut _up_ , Ronald," she muttered through clenched teeth.

"Why was I last?" complained Percy.

"Because you're an idiot, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth shot back as if they had done this billions of times before. Hermione knew the feeling.

"But I love you!"

"I love you too. You're still an idiot."

The girl called Piper grinned. "You guys are so _cute_!"

"So am I!" piped up Leo Valdez.

"No, Valdez, you're not cute," Nico butted in. "Stop saying that. It's annoying."

Hermione looked at Harry and Ron, who were both smiling a bit.

"Well," she said. "We're getting close to Hogwarts, you should probably put on your robes now." She turned to the boys and added, "You two should probably do the same."

"Yes, Miss Granger," they chorused like children in class. She sent a shock into each of their behinds with her wand, and they yelped and ran down the hall. Before closing the door she added proudly, "I'm the Head Girl, by the way. Have fun at Hogwarts!" 

* * *

 


	2. The Sorting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The demigods get sorted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i really just wanted to get this chapter out of my system because it's just sort of been occupying my brain for the past few days. other than this, expect maybe once-a-week updates (with a few exceptions).

* * *

Percy smiled as he settled himself into the boat and steadied the water for Annabeth, Nico and Leo to get in (the other four were in a boat behind them). The castle was lit up with a soft glow, and even if he wasn't all that into architecture and the like, he had to admit that it was beautiful. He would hate to blow it up. The boat started moving, an he amused himself by making it speed up and little then slow down, despite Nico's nervous mutters. The end of the boat ride came way too quickly: he would have loved to just stay in the middle of the lake with his arm around Annabeth, watching the stars and the glowing castle. He filed that away as a possible date. Maybe a picnic, or...

He was cut off by a punch in  his arm.

"Come _on_ Seaweed Brain," urged his girlfriend with an exasperated sigh. "You're holding up the line."

He jumped out of the boat.

* * *

They were led into a room by the larger-than-average man that had directed them to the boats. The demigods felt strangely out of place amongst the crowd of eleven-year-old children, but they had to be sorted, whatever that was. They waited for about five minutes, but for Percy it felt like ages. He could feel Leo fidgeting next to him, probably constructing some masterpiece with a bit of stray wire. Finally, the man came back for them. 

They trooped through a gigantic, well, hall, lit up with floating candles. Percy looked nervously upwards, not trusting them to not fall on his head. Piper, who was standing behind him, poked him in the back (which made him jump) and pointed upwards. The ceiling... He caught his breath. Oh, the ceiling. It was better than the roofless Mess Hall back at camp. This was made to look like the night sky, lit up with stars, constellations, everything.

"Thalia would have loved this," he breathed. Annabeth nodded in agreement and squeezed his hand. A teacher at the front was making a speech. Speeches, he had decided long ago, were boring, so he let his thoughts wander to the daughter of Zeus.

Thalia Grace had died during that final battle against Gaea. Nico had informed them all that she was in Elysium. He hoped she was happy... He shook himself. He didn't need to go there. Not now. Besides, kids were getting called up the the front.

He watched carefully, so that he would know what to do when it was his turn. If he messed up, Annabeth wouldn't let him hear the end of it. They were walking up to the front when their names were called, then they would sit down and put on an old hat. Some of them had to wait for a while, and some of them were sorted right away into one of the four tables that cheered. There was Ravenclaw, the blue and bronze one; Gryffindor, the red and gold one; Hufflepuff, the yellow and black; and Slytherin, the green and silver. When the little kids were done, someone at the front said,

"We have eight students from America this year. Welcome them warmly, I hope you will be good hosts."

The man who had been calling the names took out another roll of...parchment?

 _Wow, old fashioned much?_ Percy thought.

"Chase, Annabeth!"

Annabeth extricated her hand from his and walked up to the front in her slightly prim, I'm-smarter-than-all-of-you-idiots, child of Athena manner. She sat on the chair and allowed the hat to be lowered onto her head. There was a slight pause, then a shout of "RAVENCLAW" was heard throughout the hall. She removed the hat, stood up, and made her way smiling to the cheering, bronze and blue table with the eagle banner over it.

"Di Angelo, Nico!"

The son of Hades cast a wary glance around the hall as he made him way up to the stool at the front of the room. He sat right on the edge, as if prepared to run if needed. He put the hat on, and waited. Thirty seconds passed, then a minute, then another thirty seconds... People stated to mutter amongst themselves, glance around, whisper with their friends.

"SLYTHERIN!" roared the hat. Nico hopped off the chair, leaving the hat, and speed-walked to the green and silver table. Percy hoped he would be okay.

"Grace, Jason!" was next. He walked confidently up to the front, and sat. It took a rather long minute to come to its conclusion, but it was still a shorter time than for Nico.

"SLYTHERIN!" The snake table cheered loudly again, and Jason exited the spotlight just as confidently as he'd entered it.

"Jackson, Perseus!"

Percy grumbled at the use of his full name, but, after a shove from Piper, made his way to the front of the large room. He could feel everyone's eyes on him, and while he was used to it what with being "The Great Percy Jackson" it still made him slightly uncomfortable. Maybe it was just because it was a different crowd. He shrugged internally, sat on the stool and put on the old hat.

"Hello," said a voice in his ear. "You're a new kind of wizard. I've had three others like you. Your three friends. They're very nice."

"Soooo...are you here to converse with me or sort me?"

The hat huffed. "Just making polite conversatio- ooooh," it cut itself off. "Oh now _that_... Hmmm...Now, my first choice would be Gryffindor..."

"But?"

"But you are very loyal to your friends. Almost too loyal, I see you've heard. And that trait is a strong supporter of the Hufflepuff house."

"Well... I have no idea what either of those are, so make your choice. It's _your_ job after all."

The hat huffed again.

"Do you mind not doing that in my ear?" complained Percy.

"Okay fine, I've made my choice. GRYFFINDOR!"

Percy took off the hat and stood up. The red and gold table was cheering, and he went to sit down towards the end of the table where there was a little space. Looking down the table, he saw Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, the people from the train. They were sitting with a few other people he hadn't seen. The girl was ginger, like Ron, probably his sister or something. She had her head on Harry's shoulder, and they were probably holding hands under the table. The boy had well-kept brown hair, or it could have been well-kept if it wasn't so messy. He was chatting with Hermione (who was very visibly holding Ron's hand) about something. Something nudged him.

Percy looked up to find Piper standing behind him. "What?" he whispered.

"Shift," she charmspoke, and he felt himself move over.

"Stop charmspeaking me. Where's Hazel?"

"Sorry!" she grinned, not sounding very sorry. "Hazel got into Hufflepuff. The table with the badger. Would paying attention once in a while kill you?"

The son of Poseidon gave Piper a look. "Are we really talking about things killing me?"

"Good point."

The Gryffindor table cheered again, and he realized that Leo had just been sorted into Gryffindor as well. Piper waved him over. He sat down between them and slung his arms around their shoulders.

"Well, ain't this a fun holiday?"

"Way to be discreet, Valdez," snorted Percy. "Why not just announce to the whole world that--"

Piper reached across Leo and punched him. "Talk about discreet."

They all looked up in time to see Frank sorted into Hufflepuff.

"How come _they_ get to be together?" complained Percy. "Annabeth's in a whole other house."

"Shut up, Jackson. You complain more than the Aphrodite kids," Leo smirked. Piper fake-coughed.

"Excuse me?"

"Not that there's anything wrong with the Aphrodite children," he said quickly. "They're all really hot."

"You have a girlfriend," Piper reminded him.

"Guys, shut up," Percy hissed. "The lady's about to make a speech that I won't listen to."

And it was true. At the front of the room, a very stern-looking woman had stood up. Everyone fell silent.

"Now that the Sorting is over, I would like to discuss a few things," she said. "We've all just been through a very hard time. Last year, Voldemort and his Death Eaters were defeated in a terrible battle. People were lost, friends, family, acquaintances... This year, we will all start anew. This year, we will start our new peaceful lives. This year," she smirked a little," I hope that you will all remember that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds to all students, first years are not permitted on the third floor, and first and second years may not join the trips to Hogsmeade. Furthermore, in order for the third years to go to the village, we require a permission slip signed by a parent or guardian."  She held up her hands when the groans started rolling in. "You may now eat." 

The previously silent room burst into conversation and food popped onto the table. 

"Cool! Magical food!" exclaimed Percy as he helped himself to a rather large portion of said magical food and dug in. The gods had relieved them of sacrificial food duties during their time at Hogwarts.

"It's their vacation," Zeus had said, shockingly benevolently. "They should enjoy it without raising suspicion."

* * *

 


	3. An Explosion In Potions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of school, and Leo and Percy have an accident in Potions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not much to say for this one. there'll be more with the other houses in the next few chapters.  
> oh and as a side note, i haven't read or seen harry potter in ages, so the descriptions and stuff are a mix between what i find online (when i bother to look), what i remember from the movies, and what i remember from the books. just one big...description sandwich. okay, weird comparison. never mind me!  
> i also need to constantly remind myself that ginny is now in the same year as everyone else. gods, this is getting confusing.  
> one last thing: this is about jason's leg. i'm sorry if any of you are unhappy about that, but i don't think the demigods would have come out entirely whole from that war with gaea. so yeah. (i'm not really sorry, though. it's my story and i'll do whatever i want with it.)   
> p.s. i got the cupholder idea from khajidont's disabled demigods on tumblr. (even though percy's the one with the prosthetic leg there)

* * *

Ron Weasley woke up late, as always. He'd hoped that maybe a year away from school chasing an evil wizard ready to take over the world might have made him a little bit more of a morning person, but...no. He could hear Harry in the bathroom, probably making himself all pretty for Ginny. He sighed and got dressed. There wasn't much he could do about their relationship, but if Harry hurt his little sister...

He got dressed quickly, barged into the bathroom (to find his friend fixing his hair) and brushed his teeth, then hurried out of their room shouting, "I'm not waiting for you, Potter! Not this year!" over his shoulder gleefully.

"Merlin's beard, Ron," came the reply, "don't be such a git!" But he was already down the stairs.

He had spotted Hermione waiting for them on one of the couches of the common room. He crept up and hugged her from behind.

"I heard you coming, Ron. You're louder than Grawp!" she scolded, but he could hear the smile in her voice. She lifted her face and they shared a sweet morning kiss.

"Uhhh, guys?" A voice broke off the soon-to-be make out session. Ron and Hermione look up to see Percy Jackson, the American transfer student. "Sorry to interrupt you, but I don't really know where to go."

Hermione leapt off the couch they had fallen onto and smoothed down her hair. "Of course," she replied in a crisp, Head Girl tone. Ron tried not to drool. "We'll accompany you and your friends to the Great Hall. Won't we, Ron?"

"What?" He snapped himself out of it. "Oh, uh, right." He stood up as well.

"Leo's not down yet, and I don't know about Piper."

"Piper was getting ready when I left the room," Hermione explained. "Oh ,there she is!"

Sure enough, Piper was descending the stairs. She was wearing the normal black pants and white button down shirt underneath her robe, but it looked somehow different on her. Ron squinted a little, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Her gold-and-crimson striped tie was knotted loosely around her neck, and feathers and beads were braided into her short, uneven hair. She grinned at them.

"Morning! Where do we get breakfast?"

"We're waiting for Repair Boy," muttered Percy.

"Aren't we always?"

Just then Leo Valdez bounded down the stairs.

"Ah, the Supreme Commander has decided to grace us with his presence," Percy proclaimed in a fake British accent.

"We do not sound like that!" Ron gasped, only slightly offended.

"No, you don't," Leo snorted. "Percy does." He turned on the black-haired boy. "Thank you for finally recognizing my true title, by the way." Percy rolled his eyes.

"Well," Hermione cut in, louder than she needed to be, "If Mr Potter persists in not joining us, we'll go down WITHOUT HIM."

"Sorry!" came a voice from the staircase. "I was getting ready." Harry appeared in the doorway. "Let's go." 

The group of Gryffindors made their way through the castle, fortunately not falling off the moving staircases (although some did come close). They squeezed into seats at their table, and just in time, too. Plates of breakfast food popped up all along the tables, and people started serving themselves.

"This is...different," Leo remarked. Percy was busy helping himself to a rather large portion of bacon and scrambled eggs.

A teacher came by, handing out time tables to the students. Ron leaned back from the table a little and sighed.

"And again." 

"Well, you were the one who wanted to come back," Hermione countered. "You didn't _have_ to."

"Can't do anything about it, I suppose." He took the piece of paper the teacher was holding out to him and looked at it. "Hey, lots of free periods!" he grinned. "What about you, Mione?"

Harry leaned over and the two boys compared schedules. "Still the same classes," Harry laughed, then went back to talking with Ginny.

"Hermione?" Piper asked a little hesitantly. "Could you, uh, tell us what this says?" She held out her schedule. Hermione looked surprised.

"Why?"

"We're...well we're dyslexic. If it was normal print it might be okay, but this..." She giggled nervously.

"Oh. Yeah, sure," the witch smiled. She took the paper and began reading out their classes. Halfway through Monday, she stopped and smiled even wider. "I have an idea. Give me your schedules." She held out her hand at Percy and Leo, who slipped the time tables into her palm. She tapped each one with her wand and handed them back.

They now had blocks of color everywhere, and the times were in large block letters.

"There. I've color-coded each class and made the words bigger. White is breakfast, lunch and free periods. Next you have green which is Potions, then red which is Charms. Then there's purple for Defense Against the Dark Arts, blue for History of Magic, yellow for Herbology, and brown for Transfiguration. Astronomy is at midnight, and I've made that black."

Piper grinned at Hermione and hugged her awkwardly across the table. "Perfect! So where's..." She looked down at her schedule. "Potions?"

"In the dungeon," Ron said faux-darkly.

"Di Angelo'll like that one," snickered Leo.

"Di Angelo..." Hermione muttered, trying to remember who they were talking about. "Nico Di Angelo, Slytherin. Right?"

"Wow... You and Annabeth would really get along well," Percy said. "Yeah, that's the one."

"He'll be getting quite a bit of dungeons. That's where his common room is. Under the lake," she explained.

Percy perked up a little at the mention of water. "Can we swim in it?"

Ron laughed. "Course not. Unless you fancy getting killed by the giant squid!"

The American boy smiled crazily. "It won't eat me."

"That's what the last one said," Ron whispered loudly. Their section of the Gryffindor table roared with laughter.

* * *

 The minute she stepped foot in the classroom, Piper decided she did not like Potions. It was all dark and gloomy, a little too much like places she had almost died. She inched closer to Leo and squeezed his elbow for comfort.

"I know," he whispered, suddenly serious. "I know." They could hear Percy's breath quicken a little beside them. Piper reached out and casually looped her arm around his. He threw a relieved smile towards her. The three demigods advanced towards the almost-empty desks, arm-in-arm.

There were two people already in the classroom. One was the teacher (who was busy doing teacherly stuff and not paying attention), and one was...

"Jason!" Piper forgot her fear of the classroom and rushed forwards. The blonde boy grinned and stood up, ready for her. She crashed into him and he reeled backwards a little.

"Your leg okay?" she murmured. He nodded. He'd lost his leg during the final battle against Gaea, but Leo had made him a new one, complete with cool-but-entirely-useless features, like a cup holder that opened and closed at will, a button that, once pushed, would change the prosthetic leg's color, and a USB plug to charge an iPod or phone.

The class started to fill up with Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Percy and Leo took the bench next to Piper and Jason. "This is gonna be good," whispered Leo. "Front-row seat and all."

Percy elbowed his friend in the ribs a little harder than intended, and the son of Hephaestus doubled over.

"Oops!" He tried to wince, but ended up laughing. "Gods, Valdez, toughen up a bit!"

A tiny flame flickered on the end of Leo's finger, but before the grinning boy could do anything, the teacher spoke.

"Settle down, please! Hello everyone, welcome to Potions class. I am Professor Slughorn, but all of you know that already."

"Slughorn?" Leo snorted quietly. "They're really not kidding, are they?"

"So," continued Professor Slughorn, oblivious to Leo's comment. "I see I have four exchange students here. If you could please stand up?"

Jason, Piper, Percy and Leo scraped their chairs back and stood.

"Ah, of course, Jason Grace. And the rest of you are...?"

"Piper Mclean."

"Leo Valdez."

"Percy Jackson. Uh, it probably says Perseus on your...thing," he corrected himself.

"Yes, yes, perfect. Now, let's get started. Take out your books and cauldrons."

There was much commotion as the students reached into their bags, set heavy cauldrons down on the wooden tables with a bang, dropped books and picked them up. Finally, quiet was returned to the dungeon and class could start.

Slughorn had Hermione pass out materials, and made the instructions appear on the chalkboard by waving his wand.

Percy cursed the idiot who had given him dyslexia ("Not the gods, though," he added quickly, in case any of them got any _wrong ideas_ ). Cursive, _again_. What was it with wizards and cursive writing? Him and Leo looked at each other and sighed. They were about to raise their hands, but Jason beat them to it.

"Yes, Mr Grace?"

"We, the other exchange students and I, are dyslexic. Could you make the writing a little less cursive, please?" he asked politely. He was good at the speaking stuff.

The teacher waved his wand, and the lettering on the board rearranged itself. It was now in neat capital letters.

The hour passed quickly. Leo and Percy found that, working together, they could make a decent-ish potion. Leo used his fire to heat up things that needed heating, and Percy watered things down or just stirred the potion.

Okay, maybe it wasn't that decent. Right as they were putting the finishing touches on their bubbling brown liquid, Leo gave a little too much fire and...

_BANG!_

The two boys were thrown backwards off their chairs and knocked into Harry and Ron's table behind them. Sticky brown potion splattered their hair and clothes, to top it all off.

Slughorn was looking at them incredulously from the front of the classroom.

"How did you... How did you _do_ that?" he said finally.

Percy pushed himself up into a sitting position, groaning. "Damn it, Valdez. Why did you do that?"

"How is it my fault?"

"You were the one who was firing everything up. Literally."

Leo punched Percy weakly in the shoulder. "That was a terrible pun, Jackson. Everyone knows I'm the king of puns."

"Sure you are, Repair Boy. Sure you are."

The two boys dissolved into laughter, covered in brown goo. Everyone looked on, rather shocked (except for Jason and Piper, who, quite used to their antics, were laughing quietly along with them), until the teacher seemed to shake himself out of his stupor. He flicked his wand and their 'potion' was gone.

"Detention, both of you. My office, nine o' clock."

Professor Slughorn turned back to his desk, trying to hide his shoulders shaking with silent mirth. He hadn't seen an explosion like that in quite a while.

* * *

 


	4. Lullaby in the Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth excels at Defense Against the Dark Arts, Nico falls asleep twice, and they both find themselves in the library at 3 am the previous night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this doesn't have much in terms of a plot yet. i'm still sort of getting settled and all, but i'm sure i'll figure something out eventually. hopefully.  
> oh and sorry this chapter took so long. exam week and lack of inspiration both played a part.  
> last thing: i decided last-minute to kill thalia (sorry thals). so i'll go back and change that in chapter two or wherever the hell she was mentioned, if anyone wants to go back and re-read that.

* * *

Annabeth gazed around the hallway in awe. She had been gazing around hallways in awe for the whole morning, to be honest. And every time she came across a new hallway or classroom, she gazed around a little bit more. When she was done marveling at the architecture of Hogwarts, she remembered that she had a class to get to. More particularly - she looked down at her color-coded timetable (thanks to Hermione Granger) - Defense Against the Dark Arts. She wondered what kind of defense it was. Hopefully something with knives or swords, some kind of fighting. She would excel at that.

"Annabeth!" A dreamy voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She turned and saw Luna Lovegood, one of her roommates, hurrying to catch up with her. 

"Hey, Luna," she smiled. "Any idea how to get to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom?"

"Of course I do. I've been going her for six years, remember." She smiled back.

They walked in silence for a while. Luna seemed like a strange girl, but Annabeth knew what it was like to be strange (as she had had lots of practice with her family). Besides, she kind of reminded the demigod of a new Athena kid who had taken quite a liking to her.

"Luna?" she blurted suddenly. There was a question that had been burning through her mind the whole day. One thing she didn't know about the wizarding world (she had spent a good part of the night in the library, and had done a good deal of research before leaving Camp Half-Blood). And Annabeth hated not knowing.

"Yes?"

"What were those things that were pulling the carriages last night?"

"Oh, you mean the Thestrals."

"Thestrals," repeated Annabeth. "Thanks."

"Who died?"

"W-what?" She was not expecting that question.

"Thestrals are only seen by those who have seen death." Luna paused, allowing Annabeth to process the information. "So, who died?"

The daughter of Athena shuddered. "So many. Too many. Both times." Flashes of the wars invaded her mind, and the hallway around her disappeared. She saw the Titans invading Manhattan. Campers dying. Hunters dying. Monsters dying. Then there was Gaea, rising, rising, rising, then falling; and Tartarus, with the terrible, terrible sights.

"Annabeth. Annabeth!" Luna was shaking her by her shoulders. She snapped out of it.

"Sorry," she muttered. "That...happens." Annabeth drew a shaky breath, and forced herself to exhale. "We have a class to get to," continued, more steadily than she felt.

"Come on, then." Luna took her hand and led her towards the door to the classroom, sensing that the matter was to be dropped.

* * *

Okay, so maybe Defense Against the Dark Arts wasn't exactly how Annabeth had imagined it. It was casting spells and stuff. But it was still pretty fun.

The wizard world had just gone through a war the previous year against some guy called Lord Voldemort, so all the seventh year students knew pretty much all there was to know about defending themselves. This class had no teacher, and it was spent perfecting spells, chatting, or reading. Annabeth opted for the spell-perfecting option.

She took out her wand (kaya wood, ten inches, flexible, with a unicorn hair core. Apparently, kaya was one of the rarer wand woods, although unicorn hair was common amongst Ravenclaws.) and left her bag at one of the desks. She maneuvered herself through the spells and duels over to the side of the room, where she could see Luna staring dreamily at a luminous, misty white rabbit. A Patronus, Annabeth told herself. The two girls smiled at each other, then the demigod got to work.

 _Expecto Patronum_ , she remembered, was the spell. It was a protection spell against things called Dementors. She wasn't sure what they did, but she could guess they weren't nice. All you had to do was conjure up a happy memory. She sighed. After everything that had happened...

After sending one last prayer to Hecate, who had lent them all some magic for the year, she took a deep breath.

" _Expecto Patronum_ ," she said steadily, calling up every image of her and Percy together: seeing him for the first time, twelve, unconscious in the infirmary; their first kiss before he shot off to Calypso's island, and their second kiss, underwater in the canoe lake. Everything. At first nothing happened, then a wisp of white mist appeared. She concentrated a little more, and suddenly an owl shot fully-formed from the tip of her wand. It swooped around her head, playing with Luna's rabbit, then flapping its wings to settle itself on a shelf. She let go of the string of Percy thoughts, and it disintegrated with a quiet _poof_.

* * *

While Annabeth was casting Patronus charms, Nico was falling asleep. He wasn't too worried about getting in trouble due to the fact that, a, ninety-five percent of the class already _was_ asleep and besides, the teacher was a ghost and even if it was a different world, his father was still the God of Death and this ghost was still dead, and death was death no matter what anyone believes.

History of Magic was easily the most boring class he'd had all day. First there was Herbology in which everything he'd touched died (thanks, Persephone), then Potions which actually went surprisingly okay. The teacher was the head of his house, and the classroom was underground-ish. (He'd heard that Leo and Percy had made something explode during the class before his, and felt a little less alone.) Third there had been Transfiguration which had been slightly catastrophic. After having been turned into a dandelion, then an ear of corn, he understandably had some misgivings about letting himself be transformed into various objects and creatures. That was Frank's job. Lunch had been better, because he'd been able to sit with someone he actually knew and trusted (namely Jason). 

The truth was, he was kind of lonely. During the past war, he'd let himself open up to people a little more.

Okay, that was a lie. He'd only allowed himself to become closer to seven people: Jason, Piper Leo, Frank, Annabeth, Percy, and Hazel.

But all the same, he wished he was in the same year as them. It would have made everything so much easier...

Nico's head slipped out of his hand, but he jerked himself awake before it hit the desk. The ghost was still droning on at the front of the class, and only five minutes had passed sine the last time he checked the clock. He sighed impatiently and jiggled his leg nervously.

"Come _on_ ," he sang under his breath. The bells of the clock tower chimed suddenly, announcing the end of the teacher's lecture.

"Class is dismissed," he droned.

Nico almost cheered as he sped towards the door. Freedom at last!

He hurried towards his next class, trying to keep up with a classmate as he had no clue where his Charms class was.

* * *

Nico was falling asleep again. It wasn't from boredom this time, but fatigue.

The boy next to him elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

"Don't you get any sleep?" he hissed.

Nico snorted quietly. "I try."

"Well, try harder."

But he couldn't try harder. He didn't like sleeping anyways. Sleeping was when he let his guard down. Sleeping was when anything could kill him.

Sleeping was also when the memories came back.

Last night, though, last night had been different...

* * *

 

_Nico crept into the library. One of the candles was still lit and there was someone sitting at a table._

_"Annabeth?" he whispered tentatively. She jumped up and turned around, knocking over her chair._

_"Oh," she breathed in relief. "It's just you. I thought for a second..."_

_"Tartarus?"_

_She picked up her chair and sat back down._

_"Yeah. Why are you up?"_

_Nico took the seat next to her and peered over her shoulder at the book she was reading._

_"I could say the same for you. What's a...an ashwinder?" he asked, trying to keep the topic off unpleasant things._

_Annabeth sighed. "It's a kind of snake. Sort of. It's born from the ashes of a fire, lives about an hour - long enough for it to lay its eggs apparently - then dissolves into ash when it dies. Nico, is it the nightmares?"_

_Nico chose to ignore her last question. "Cool. What about a-"_

_"Nico." She cut him off. "Please, just..."_

_"Yeah," he sighed. "Of course it is. Tartarus and the wars and- and Bianca."_

_"You don't have to do this alone, you know."_

_"What?" That remark took him by surprise._

_"I've been through Tartarus too. And both wars. And... I've lost people."_

_"Yeah, Luke."_

_"And Thalia. We were like sisters and now she's just...gone." Annabeth pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes._

_"That wasn't your fault."  
_

_"Of course it was. I didn't think about what I was doing. I was stupid. I-"_

_"Shut up."_

_"What?"_

_Nico couldn't stand to see Annabeth blaming herself for everything. Not only did he care about her, but seeing her like this was almost like looking in a mirror. He had long since stopped hating her because of Percy, and he didn't want her to feel like this, ever.  
_

_"Just shut up, okay? You can't think like that, Annabeth."_

_"I-"_

_"No."_

_Annabeth put her book down with a resigned sigh._

_"Fine," she said. "I'll try not to. But only if you let me help you."_

_Ah, the catch._

_"And how do you expect to do that?" he asked, almost defiantly. He couldn't be helped.  
_

_"Lie down, Nico." She pushed her chair out a little and patted her thighs.  
_

_"I'm sorry?"_

_"Lie down. Put your head on your lap. Sometimes not sleeping alone chases away the nightmares a little."_

_Nico hesitantly placed his head on her lap, and stretched out across two other chairs._

_"Like this?"_

_There was no reply from Annabeth. Instead, she started stroking Nico's black hair, running her fingers through it comfortingly. He stiffened._

_She started singing softly._

Go to sleep, don't rest your head  
Don't lie down upon your bed  
While the moon drifts in the skies  
Stay awake, don't close your eyes

 _Nico began to relax. He hadn't felt... Hades, he hadn't felt this_ loved _in ages. Annabeth pet his head softly, all the while singing the sweet lullaby._

Though the world is fast asleep  
Though your pillow's soft and deep  
You're not sleepy as you seem  
Stay awake, don't nod and dream  
Stay awake, don't nod and dream

_He was asleep before the song was over, and he had no memorable nightmares that night._

* * *

Nico di Angelo awoke in the infirmary.

"What...what happened?" he asked hoarsely.

The nurse looked at him with a little displeasure.

"You fell asleep in Charms class and refused to wake up. You got a detention as well. Professor Flitwick said to report to Professor Slughorn's office at nine o' clock on Saturday night. You'll know where that is, being a Slytherin."

"Oh. Okay."

"What do you do all night, Mr di Angelo? What could possibly be more important than sleep?"

Nico shrugged. "It's not that I don't sleep. It's that I _can't_."

"If it's insomnia, you should have just asked."

He took a deep breath. It wasn't insomnia. He knew that, and it seemed like she did too from the suspicious glaces she kept throwing his way.

So he made a decision.

He was going to do something stupid. He was going to trust this woman.

"It's not. It's nightmares."

The nurse's face softened. "Ah."

"Yeah. Ah."

"In that case, I don't think there's much I can do."

Nico threw the covers off.

"Stay," the nurse ordered him. "You're staying here tonight."

"No, please," he pleaded. "I can't."

"I'll keep the candles going," she replied softly. "If you need to talk to anyone about these nightmares of yours, I'll be here."

Nico dragged the sheets back onto his body and lay down.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

And he sank back into the oblivion that was sleep.

* * *

 


	5. Badger Pride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All of a sudden there are four Gryffindor boys wandering around Hogwarts with bright pink hair and electric green beards long enough to trip over (or Don't Mess With The Half-Blood Hufflepuffs), and Percy takes a dip in the lake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> really short chapter i'm so sorry (fighting against the monster that is writer's block. and the other monster that is i-have-no-idea-where-this-story-is-going.)  
> but do i smell a budding bromance between percy and ron? do i?  
> yes. yes i do.   
> (also everyone got a little ooc in this chapter because i'm exhausted and i have no idea what i'm doing. i'll fix it later.)

Frank's fist connected with the Gryffindor boy's face. The wizard reeled backwards and smashed against the opposite wall. The other three gave him strange looks. They certainly didn't expect Frank to retaliate that way because a) he was a wizard and could have just as easily hexed the hell out of them, and b) he was a Hufflepuff, and they weren't supposed to be prone to violence.

_They really need to research the word stereotype_ , Frank thought as he deftly kicked the next boy's legs out from under him and grabbed his wand away. It was true that he wasn't exactly prone to violence, but being a son of Mars gave him one hell of an advantage. (Besides, he added to himself, he wasn't the best at magic. The only thing he excelled at was Transfiguration, and that was only Transfiguring himself into animals. Which wasn't even actual Transfiguration.)

Frank was about to flip the third Gryffindor on his back, but he noticed that the boy was clawing at his neck.

"What the..." he muttered. He turned around and saw Hazel staring intently at the boy's throat.

Oh.

Frank touched the clasp of his black cloak. He'd suspected that it was gold, but he hadn't been sure until now.

The three other Gryffindors started to back away. Hazel let the thread of control go and looked at Frank.

"And where do you think you're going?" he growled (quite literally. He was somewhere between a bear and a human).

"Uh- ah-" stuttered one.

The daughter of Pluto smiled a little, closed her eyes, and whipped out her (incidentally) hazel wood wand. She'd found that if she combined the magic she'd gotten from the goddess Hecate and her ability to manipulate the Mist, she could pull off quite a few things. When she opened her eyes, the four Gryffindor boys' hair had turned an unsightly shade of Pepto-Bismol pink, and they'd each sprouted floor-length beards of bright green (which clashed horrendously with their hair). 

"You may go," she said simply, which was enough. They sped down the long hallway, tripping over their beards as they went. Needless to say, they wouldn't be bothering any Hufflepuff girls any time soon.

"Wow, Hazel," was all Frank had to say.

"Shall we go to lunch?" she replied.

* * *

"Okay, Seaweed Brain, what happened?" asked Annabeth sharply, gesturing to the four Gryffindors with pink hair and green beards.

Percy looked offended. " _Why_ do you always assume it's my fault?"

"Because it usually is," replied Piper. Leo snorted.

"Bloody hell, guys, does anyone know what happened to those four?" Ron Weasley interrupted.

"That's what I was just asking," said Annabeth.

"You weren't asking," whined Percy. "You straight out said it was my fault."

"Well was it?" asked Harry.

"No!"

"It was me. actually."

"Hazel?" exclaimed Leo incredulously. Piper held up her hand for a high-five. (Hazel looked somewhat confused, but touched her hand to Piper's hesitantly.) 

"Both of us," continued Frank.

"Hades' underpants!" Percy let out.

"Don't mention them." Nico appeared behind the son of Poseidon, Jason in tow. "They're not pretty. What happened to those four?"

"Hazel and Frank," answered Annabeth.

"Why'd you do it," interjected Hermione, trying to keep a straight face.

"Th-they...um..." Hazel stuttered, visibly embarrassed. "They were trying to flirt with me."

"Oh, okay then." Hermione shrugged.

"What?" exclaimed Harry and Ron in unison. As Head Girl, it was supposed to be her duty to weed out troublemakers and be sure that they got a proper punishment, and they were both fairly certain that turning someone's hair pink and making them grow a beard classified as troublemaking. (Although, they couldn't be completely sure. They'd done worse and gotten away with it.)

"Well, that counts as sexual assault, so technically what Hazel and Frank did was in self-defense. Or revenge," she added thoughtfully. "Or how about _delayed_ self-defense? That works, right?" Hermione seemed to have an argument with her inner self. "Oh, whatever." She flapped her hand dismissively, almost angrily. "I'll get a confession out of those gits. It wasn't your fault, really," she said, turning to the two Hufflepuffs.

"Besides," Ron chimed in. "It was their stupid choice to underestimate Hufflepuffs."

"Shut up, Ronald," snapped Hermione. "I'm allowed to say terrible things about people. You're not. It's part of my job." She flounced away before anyone could say anything else, and Ron knew she'd gone to bombard the boys with questions.

There was a moment of silence amongst the group, then they all burst out laughing.

"On the downside," grinned Harry, "that'll take points away from Gryffindor."

"Well maybe another house'll have a chance this year." Ginny Weasley flicked her brother in the back of the head and shoved her upper body under Harry's arm. Ron glared at her.

"Eh," shrugged Harry, kissing the top of her head. "Not while I'm still here."

"Egotistical asshole," Ron muttered with a hint of a smile on his face.

They all lapsed into conversations with one another.

Ron was telling Leo about his brother's joke shop.

Percy and Piper whispering to each other, glancing around at the others.

Annabeth, Nico and Jason were trying to figure out exactly what the two Gryffindors had in mind.

Harry and Frank talked Quidditch. (Harry talked Quidditch, Frank nodded and tried to look like he knew what Harry was talking about.)

Ginny attacked Hazel's hair because Merlin's beard, it's beautiful, I want it, Frank has no idea what Harry's talking about, does he?

Percy's head suddenly shot up as if something had shocked him, and he bashed Piper in the lip.

"Fuck you, Jackson," she growled, and punched him in the shoulder.

"Sorry!" he groaned, clutching the bruise-to-be. "Sorry, Pipes. You okay?"

"Duh. I just haven't punched you today. It gave me an excuse."

Hazel snickered softly and Annabeth high-fived Piper. Percy rolled his eyes.

"Well, I just remembered. I said I would take a swim in the lake, didn't I, Ron?"

A grin spread across Ron's face. "You did."

"And we have a free period now?"

"We do."

Percy's mouth stretched into a silly smile and he gestured out the window. "It's a beautiful day, you know. Beautiful enough for a dip in that nice-looking lake out there."

Ron grabbed his arm and they ran for the door. Annabeth put her face in her hands.

"My boyfriend is an idiot. Let's go make sure they don't to anything _too_ stupid."

"My thoughts exactly," sighed Hermione, coming up behind her. The eight teenagers trooped after the two Gryffindor boys.

* * *

Percy quickly stripped off his robes, shirt and shoes. He stood on the edge of the lake in nothing but jeans, and Ginny smirked.

"Nice catch," she said to Annabeth.

"Hey!" Harry protested.

"Yeah, on some days," the daughter of Athena laughed. "On others it's more of a mother-son relationship we have."

"Yeah," Ginny agreed. "I know the feeling."

"I heard that!" shouted Harry and Percy in unison. Hazel and Piper dissolved into laughter.

"We all know you both have perfect relationships," sighed Leo, falsely exasperated. "No need to rub it in."

"Aww, poor Valdez left his girlfriend on an island!" Piper mocked.

"Sorry, what?" Ron frowned. "Did you just say you left your girlfriend on an island?"

"Well, she needed to pack," shrugged Leo. "Besides, Chiron said he would go get her."

"He also said he would tell you when he did, and he IM-ed you a few nights ago," cut in Percy. "Are we doing this or not?"

"Yes!" said Piper immediately. Nico shook his head and muttered something in Italian.

"Aaaaand a-one! Aaaaand a-two! Aaaaaand-" _SPLASH!_

Percy had jumped in. (Of course, he had to exaggerate the splash a _little_.)

The waters were murky and brown, polluted with bits of he-didn't-want-to-know-what, but he could still see and breathe just fine. A shadow passed in front of him and he squinted, trying to get a better look.

_Oh,_ he realized, _that must be the giant squid._

"Hello?" he called out.

"Son of the sea god," a deep voice boomed through the water.

"Uh, hey."

* * *

"So it didn't kill you?" asked Ron. 

"I told it not to," Percy grinned.

"And you can speak fish?" Ginny raised an eyebrow.

" _Thinks_ he can," corrected Piper.

"Shut up, Beauty Queen." Percy stuck out his tongue at the daughter of Aphrodite.

Harry slid into the empty spot next to Ginny, who smacked him on the arm.

"You're ten minutes late," remarked Hermione.

"I was preparing something."

"I want a good reason, Potter."

"Meet me in the Room of Requirement in an hour," was the only thing he said before loading dinner food onto his plate.

Hermione made an aggravated noise and rolled her eyes.


	6. IMPORTANT THING PLS READ Y'ALL

OOOOOOOOOKAAAAAAAAAAAY

basically my views on the characters, the ships and the series themselves have changed since i started writing this, so i will be furiously re-writing. also we know how boo ends so that's a plus. 

I AM AWARE THAT THIS IS CHRONOLOGICALLY WRONG, BUT I JUST HAVE TOO MUCH SHIT GOING ON TO HAVE THE NEXT GEN THING GOING ON HERE. I HAVEN'T GOTTEN TO KNOW THOSE CHARACTERS WELL ENOUGH YET, AND I'M GONNA HAVE A BUNCH ON MY HANDS ALREADY WHAT WITH SHOVING THE DEMIGODS INTO HOGWARTS. THANK YOU.

here's what to expect in the new version:

  * gay
  * DIFFERENT HOUSES BC FRICK
  * more gay
  * **_generally better_ _writing_**



so yeah. stay tuned, friends!!!

 


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